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At Embassies Abroad, Trump Envoys Are Quietly Pushing Out Career Diplomats
Kevin M. Kruse Retweeted“Trump’s South Africa ambassador, a successful handbag designer.”
So much national decay, captured in a single sentence.
Link to tweet
SCOOP: Trump's South Africa ambassador, a successful handbag designer, forced out her top career diplomat at the embassy as she tried to elevate her son to a senior embassy post, officials tell me. Part of a trend of Trump envoys pushing out their #2's
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EXCLUSIVE
At Embassies Abroad, Trump Envoys Are Quietly Pushing Out Career Diplomats
“There’s zero support or pushback from the department for the career people,” said one former U.S. official.
BY ROBBIE GRAMER | FEBRUARY 5, 2020, 3:19 PM
Lana Marks is a successful fashion designer and member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Though she has no prior diplomatic experience, Marks is also Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, and last month she forced out her second in command, the veteran career foreign service officer David Young. According to multiple current and former officials familiar with the matter, the issue arose following Marks’s attempts to elevate her son to a senior role in the embassy, an apparent violation of State Department rules.
The incident illustrated a growing trend in the Trump administration. Already, several of Trump’s political allies-turned-ambassadors—he has appointed a higher percentage than most previous presidents—have sacked their deputies amid a culture of mistrust between politically appointed and career State Department officials.
Marks has also faced other criticism within the State Department over how she manages the embassy in Pretoria. Apart from her attempts to give her son a job with elevated responsibilities at the embassy, other embassy staff have been pushed out, including officials who worked on foreign aid and health programs in a country that is a major recipient of U.S. funds to tackle HIV and AIDS, according to several State Department officials familiar with the matter. Last month, the State Department dispatched several senior officials to South Africa to help manage tensions at the embassy, two officials said, including Deputy Undersecretary of Management William Todd and Geeta Pasi, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs.
It’s not the first time the State Department has had to respond to allegations of mismanagement by political donors-turned-ambassadors, nor is it unique to Trump’s administration. But his politically appointed ambassadors are sacking their deputy chiefs of mission—an embassy’s second-in-command post held by foreign service officers—in unusually high numbers, officials say.
Along with South Africa, Trump’s envoys in Canada, France, Iceland, Romania, and the United Kingdom have all removed their deputy chiefs of mission, some ambassadors doing so just shortly before or after arriving at their new posts.
{snip}
At Embassies Abroad, Trump Envoys Are Quietly Pushing Out Career Diplomats
“There’s zero support or pushback from the department for the career people,” said one former U.S. official.
BY ROBBIE GRAMER | FEBRUARY 5, 2020, 3:19 PM
Lana Marks is a successful fashion designer and member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Though she has no prior diplomatic experience, Marks is also Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, and last month she forced out her second in command, the veteran career foreign service officer David Young. According to multiple current and former officials familiar with the matter, the issue arose following Marks’s attempts to elevate her son to a senior role in the embassy, an apparent violation of State Department rules.
The incident illustrated a growing trend in the Trump administration. Already, several of Trump’s political allies-turned-ambassadors—he has appointed a higher percentage than most previous presidents—have sacked their deputies amid a culture of mistrust between politically appointed and career State Department officials.
Marks has also faced other criticism within the State Department over how she manages the embassy in Pretoria. Apart from her attempts to give her son a job with elevated responsibilities at the embassy, other embassy staff have been pushed out, including officials who worked on foreign aid and health programs in a country that is a major recipient of U.S. funds to tackle HIV and AIDS, according to several State Department officials familiar with the matter. Last month, the State Department dispatched several senior officials to South Africa to help manage tensions at the embassy, two officials said, including Deputy Undersecretary of Management William Todd and Geeta Pasi, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs.
It’s not the first time the State Department has had to respond to allegations of mismanagement by political donors-turned-ambassadors, nor is it unique to Trump’s administration. But his politically appointed ambassadors are sacking their deputy chiefs of mission—an embassy’s second-in-command post held by foreign service officers—in unusually high numbers, officials say.
Along with South Africa, Trump’s envoys in Canada, France, Iceland, Romania, and the United Kingdom have all removed their deputy chiefs of mission, some ambassadors doing so just shortly before or after arriving at their new posts.
{snip}
Previously at DU:
Thursday, November 15, 2018: tRump names a handbag designer for ambassador to South Africa...
Tuesday, October 2, 2018: Trump reportedly picks handbag designer as ambassador to South Africa
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